21A American IPA
Rice Ale
Grain bill
| Gladfield Light Lager Malt | 3.95 kg | 66.6% |
| Flaked Rice | 1.32 kg | 22.3% |
| Gladfield Vienna Malt | 0.66 kg | 11.1% |
Adjuncts
| Koppafloc | 1 g @ 10 min |
| Yeast nutrient | 5 g @ 10 min |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 30 min | WP 75°C | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mosaic | 15g | · | · | 30g |
| Krush | · | 30g | · | · |
| Nelson Sauvin | · | · | 30g | 20g |
Yeast
| LalBrew Pomona | 2 packets |
Water additions
| Calcium Chloride | 4 g |
| Magnesium Sulfate | 2 g |
| Calcium Sulfate | 1 g |
| Lactic acid | — |
Tasting notes
2025-07-27
An ale-format take on a rice-lager concept — using flaked rice to lighten body and dry the finish while keeping the IPA hop character intact. The target was a clean, light-bodied beer with moderate dank and tropical hop notes, somewhere between a lager-clean pale and a full-weight IPA.
Grain Bill
Gladfield Light Lager Malt (66.6%) provided the clean, neutral base. Flaked Rice (22.3%) was the key adjunct: flavour-neutral, high-extract, and body-lightening — the ingredient that shifts the finish from round to crisp. Gladfield Vienna (11.1%) added a touch of warmth and malt depth to keep things from going thin.
Hops
A three-variety mix across all stages:
- Mosaic 15 g at 60 min (bittering), 30 g dry hop day 2 — earthy tropical backbone
- Krush 30 g at 30 min — Kiwi fruit and tropical mid-palate
- Nelson Sauvin 30 g whirlpool at 75°C + 20 g dry hop day 2 — white wine and gooseberry character
Total: 125 g across all stages, 70 IBU.
Fermentation
LalBrew Pomona pitched at 18.5°C and dry hopped early at day 2 around 1.015, capitalising on biotransformation. Temperature stepped up to 21–22°C for clean-up. Pressure built to around 18 psi by day 10 before cooling to 3°C ahead of transfer on day 15.
Packaging & Tasting
Packaged 15 days after brew day (mixed method), carbonated to 2.4 vol CO₂. Tasted at kegging: very drinkable, light body with a balanced sweet/dry character, moderate skunky-dank hop note. The rice concept worked — cleaner and drier than a malt-only grain bill. Pomona’s biotransformation pushed the hop character beyond what the addition rates alone would suggest.